The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Below you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper this weekend.
TODAY'S LETTERS:
It's cultural vandalism
The sea is a road and, from ancient times until quite recently, any traveller to these islands had to arrive here via this route.
Early on, the coastal and riverine roads were the most efficient way to travel.
The arrival of British settlers saw the construction of wharves around the coasts and up rivers, so to facilitate trade and communications.
This is commemorated here in Tauranga with its Wharf St.
Recently, in an act of cultural vandalism that went without barely a murmur - the Tauranga Wharf, one of the oldest examples of European architecture in this area, was demolished and not replaced.
This barbarity compares to putting a wrecking ball through the Elms property or a bulldozer through the Mission Cemetery.
That wharf was the seed that put the Port of Tauranga on to the map of international commerce and from which Tauranga ratepayers benefit so handsomely.
Any "Vision" that "Priority One" may have for the future of the waterfront area would have to include a replica of the original wharf, where city workers may sit, children catch fish and boats tie up.
Alternatively, do we wait until some smartypants renames Wharf St to Art Gallery Rd?
Geoff Garrett, Otumoetai
Not so clever
The people who brought us pink bats and cash-for-clunkers have a new scheme - we can earn carbon credits by shooting wild camels, humanely of course.
Surely it would be far easier to shoot tame cattle? There are big mobs near all of our northern ports going nowhere.
And if Greens have their way and stop all live exports, we can earn heaps more by shooting millions of sheep and goats, humanely of course.
What about those mobs of kangaroos? They burn carbon fuel and emit dreaded carbon dioxide. Why should they be spared when the future of the planet is at stake?
One small problem - what do we do with all those carcasses? Left alone, they will release all the carbon sequestered within the animal bodies within a couple of weeks, thus incurring massive carbon debits.
And who counts the dead camels? To prevent carbon cull fraud the economy will boom with jobs for regulators, inspectors, auditors and prosecutors.
Viv Forbes, Rosevale, Queensland
Ban required
Re child pornography concerns in video games, anything that features the abuse of children should be banned. Purveyors of such material should be prosecuted.
Valerie Dolden, Papamoa
Danger to bees
I work in the bee industry and have taken note of a recent statement from Federated Farmers concerning the threat to our honey industry. The border controls in New Zealand are stringent but we must all be vigilant.
We are a country that relies heavily on our horticultural and agriculture industry in which honey bees are of vital importance for pollination of crops and grasses.
There are several bee diseases that we do not have in New Zealand which would cause Colony Hive Collapse and it would only take one jar of infected honey brought illegally into the country to risk our total honey industry. Diseased honey leads to diseased hives!
I saw a Fair Go programme a while ago in which they discovered that Indian honey had been smuggled into New Zealand and was being sold quite openly in Auckland - the potential for harm in this situation is immense.
The aggressive Asian bee is a particularly nasty creature - it is the bee world version of a wasp and it is very active in Queensland - they are doing all they can to eradicate it without much success.
It breeds rapidly, robs honey bee hives, and has the potential to threaten our native birds and insects.
It is said that if bees leave the world mankind will have only four years to live - to quote the media release: "We are 500 grams from disaster!"
We all need to be aware of the potential danger to our industries, our country, our lives!
Robin Bishop, Pyes Pa
Peters' view
Having read Winston Peters' opinion (June 4), I am reminded of an extract from one of John Milton's addresses to the English parliament. "Give me," he said "the liberty to know, to utter fiercely, according to conscience above all liberties."
Opinion is only knowledge in the making, but as for the conscience of a politician, their personal consciences are often compromised by the ideology of the party.
The weekly opinions of Winston Peters are only just that.
He says within one month of the release of a Treasury document supporting the busting of Telecom's monopoly, he was sacked. The sacking was because he was so difficult to work with.
Our telecommunications were sold to Telecom (a private company) lock, stock and barrel and there is no impediment to stop another organisation starting up except the expense.
Successive governments have successfully forced changes to Telecom's operation, and have been very vocal about the need to reduce their prices, but there is a limit to what they can ask of a private company.
He refers to the sale of the financially-troubled Bank of New Zealand to the National Australian Bank for $1.5 billion in 1992. In 2010 the new owners' net earnings from BNZ were only $602 million, and since the purchase the parent company has paid dividends of $5.2 billion (his figures), which only goes to show what we could have done if the NZ bank was servicing a far larger population, and had a financially-sound parent.
Ewen Lowden, Te Puke
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